Juno Loves Legs by Karl Geary

Author:Karl Geary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Catapult
Published: 2023-02-17T00:00:00+00:00

Then they came to me one morning, Philip and Jack, tapping the door just minutes after I’d heard the church bells. They stood smiling, unreadable.

‘Good morning, Juno,’ says Philip. ‘We wondered if we might trouble you for a few moments of your time.’

‘Might we come in?’

‘No, “we” mightn’t.’

‘How are you this morning?’

‘You seem upset.’

‘I’m busy. What do yis want?’

‘We are worried about you.’

I laughed out loud and that serene look they’d cultivated was quickly dropped, the way I might drop an egg and then catch it again at the last second.

‘We know the atmosphere at home has been very tense lately, to say the least. It has your father very down on account of it.’

‘Depressed,’ Jack says.

‘He’s depressed?’

‘That’s right. We know he has not always been a model parent, of course we know that, but who hasn’t failed and sought forgiveness? You must see great changes in your father.’

‘He has made room in his heart for the Lord, and has found peace.’

‘We have come to invite you, Juno.’

‘To open your heart.’

‘He’s been forgiven? You’ve forgiven him?’

‘Anyone who has come to Christ, sincerely, is forgiven.’

‘Even you, dear.’

‘Even me?’

‘No child is without sin. We are born of sin.’

‘You’re right,’ I say. ‘You’re right.’ When they saw the wisp of a tear, they smiled. They had broken through. A crack, wide enough that some small vermin, a rat say, could scuttle through.

Is this the world? What the world believes? I couldn’t ask it aloud.

I closed the door. I think they were talking still, their voices choked out by the thickness of it, the click of the latch. I went up the stairs, took to the bed. I lay under blankets and coats, that same way Mam had when there was nothing to look forward to on the other side of a long afternoon.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.